HITS since 9/2011

Posts Tagged ‘Meere’

A few days ago I drove — yes, me! — I drove up to NYU for my post op appointment with my surgeon, Dr. Patrick A. Meere. Just four weeks and five days since a second hip replacement and I was driving in complete comfort! For whatever reason this time around things have been going along much easier. There is much less pain–in comparison to last winter there is virtually none. Progress is faster than I could have imagined–already sitting on the spin cycle at the HAC a few times each week….not long sessions mind you but spinning nonetheless.

The only issue is stamina….in that I have none. This is to be expected after (yet again another) major surgery. No matter how good I feel, the body is on its own healing schedule and there is nothing I can do to speed that up.

The journey–it has not been an easy one. The revolving wheel of deterioration-surgery-recovery-“feel awesome”-deterioration… it got old a long time ago. The journey is not just one of the physical however. It is also one that is mentally driven and emotionally challenging. It has also opened a window into the very fiber of my being that has allowed me to realize just how much I truly can take. Each time as I’ve gazed through this window I’ve seen much more than I expected: not just my true sense of strength and resilience, but how all of it is connected with the people who have traveled this path with me.

Many times I have quoted the first two stanzas of Rudyard Kipling’s The Law of the Jungle. There is no question that I have learned more about letting the pack be my strength these last few years than any other time in my life. The pack has taught me to ask for help when I need it and to do nothing more in return than say “thank you.”

The future–let’s see…picture if you will a relatively small physician’s office. We’re talking the size of my living room folks. After you are asked to walk out of the exam room toward the door so your gait can be assessed, you turn and stop. To your delight you see a massive smile on your surgeon’s face. He asks, “How long now?” You respond, “”Four weeks and five days.” He shakes his head in disbelief and says,

Let’s go look at joint #4.”

…not funny. I mean seriously, this is getting way out of hand!

Fortunately joint #4 is not too bad yet and I should be able to keep the addition of more titanium to my body at bay for a while…..I’m hoping a few years…..my surgeon said nothing….